mm 


B'A,RLOW    NILES    HIGINBOTHAM 


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LAWRENCE  J.  GUTTER 

Collection  of  Chicogoono 

THE    UNIVERSITY   OF   ILLINOIS 
AT  CHICAGO 

The  University  Library 


HARLOWr  NILES  HIGINBOTHAM 


Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Arcliive 

in  2010  witli  funding  from 

CARLI:  Consortium  of  Academic  and  Researcli  Libraries  in  Illinois 


http://www.archive.org/details/harlownileshiginOOmonr 


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HARLOW    NILES    HIGINBOTHAM 

A  MEMOIR 

with  Brief  Autobiography  and  Extracts 

from 
Speeches  and  Letters 


Written  and  Edited 
by  Harriet  Monroe 


CHICAGO 
1920 


CONTENTS 


Page 

Biography  9 


Appendix  A 

Lincoln  in  1864  49 

Appendix  B 

The  power  of  personality  53 

Appendix  C 

The  man  who  did  me  a  good  turn  57 

Appendix  D 

An  inscription  in  a  copy  of  "Echoes  from  the  Sabine 
Farm"  61 


HARLOW  NILES  HIGINBOTHAM 


HARLOW    NILES    HIGINBOTHAM 


Harlow  Niles  Higinbotham,  represented,  to  a  singular 
degree,  the  best  citizenship  of  the  second  and  third  half- 
centuries  of  the  Republic.  Born  on  an  Illinois  farm 
October  tenth,  1838;  educated  in  his  native  state; 
serving  as  a  volunteer  soldier  through  the  Civil  War; 
employed  by  a  small  dry- goods  house  and  working  for 
it  loyally  and  with  perfect  integrity  until  it  had  become 
one  of  the  greatest  merchandising  firms  in  the  world, 
and  he  one  of  its  most  active  partners ;  responding  with 
ardor  to  every  public  call,  whether  it  came  from  a 
newsboys'  and  bootblacks'  club  or  from  the  World's 
Columbian  Exposition;  retiring  from  business  at  sixty 
or  more,  and  giving  his  later  years,  with  beautiful  devo- 
tion, to  his  family  and  his  favorite  charities  and  public 
works;  and  dying  at  eighty  in  full  career  and  with  fac- 
ulties unimpaired;  such  a  life  epitomizes  the  strength  and 
character  of  the  nation  during  its  robust  and  adventurous 
formative  period. 

The  story  of  his  earlier  years  may  be  outlined  in 
Mr.  Higinbotham's  own  words;  for  a  rough  manu- 
script,   autobiographical    but    written    in    the     third 


person,  was  found  among  his  papers  after  his  sudden 
death.     It  begins  as  follows: 

"Harlow  Niles  Higinbotham  was  born  on  a  farm 
near  Joliet,  Illinois,  October  tenth,  1838.  His  father 
was  Henry  Dumont  Higinbotham,  who  was  born  on 
January  tenth,  1806,  and  died  in  1865.  His  mother 
was  Rebecca  Wheeler  Higinbotham.  Both  were  bom 
in  Oneida  County,  New  York.  They  moved  to  a  farm 
in  the  Township  of  Joliet,  Illinois,  in  1834.  The  Higin- 
botham family  came  originally  from  Holland,  removing 
thence  to  England,  thence  to  the  Babados  Islands 
and  from  there  to  the  United  States. 

"The  farm,  upon  which  Henry  Dumont  Higinbotham 
settled,  was  made  up  of  lands  purchased  from  the 
Government  by  him  and  not  previously  under  cultiva- 
tion. It  is  still  in  possession  of  the  family,  enlarged 
by  purchases  and  inheritance  from  the  late  Mrs.  Harlow 
N.  Higinbotham's  estate;  her  son,  Harlow  Davison 
Higinbotham,  being  the  present  owner  and  resident. 
For  years  a  beautiful  feature  of  it  has  been  the  carnation 
greenhouses — for  the  subject  of  this  memoir  made  that 
flower  his  special  hobby,  and  propagated  many  new 
varieties. 

"Henry  Dumont  Higinbotham  built  and  operated 
saw-mills  with  water-power  furnished  by  Hickory  Creek, 
a  stream  that  runs  through  the  farm.  In  the  early 
days  farmers  for  many  miles  brought  their  wheat  and 
corn  there  to  be  ground,  and  his  compensation  was  a 
percentage  of  the  grain  brought,  called  toll.  This  he 
ground,  and  sold  as  flour  and  meal.  He  also  kept 
cattle  and  hogs  that  were  fattened  by  feeding  at  or 

10 


near  the  mill,  the  tailings  being  used  in  part  for  that 
purpose.  Being  one  of  the  early  settlers  in  that  sec- 
tion, he  was  looked  upon  with  reverence  by  his  neigh- 
bors, and  was  always  called  'Uncle  Henry*  and  his  wife 
'Aunt  Rebecca.' 

"When  Harlow  N.  Higinbotham  was  a  small  boy  the 
farther  fence  of  his  father's  farm  was  the  last  evidence 
of  civilization  in  that  direction.  In  later  years  he  used 
to  say:  *I  remember  going  with  my  father  when  he 
went  out  to  erect  a  flag-pole  in  the  middle  of  the  prairie 
as  a  preliminary  for  a  wolf-hunt  that  was  held  at  least 
once  each  year.  On  a  given  morning  all  the  settlers 
would  start  on  horseback,  with  dogs  and  guns  and 
horns,  from  the  outer  edge  of  a  circle  having  a  radius 
of  ten  or  more  miles,  and  work  towards  the  center, 
where  the  flag-pole  had  been  erected.  In  this  way  wild 
animals  would  be  driven  into  a  pocket,  surrounded  and 
killed.  This  was  made  necessary  to  protect  the  sheep, 
swine  and  poultry  of  the  settlers.  I  have  seen  wolves 
kill  our  sheep  in  our  own  fields.'  " 

In  one  of  his  addresses  is  another  reference  to  his 
early  life : 

''Our  fathers  were  pioneers  on  the  prairies  of  Illinois. 
There  we  early  learned  the  lessons  of  Nature,  and  recog- 
nized and  loved  the  message  that  the  recurring  seasons 
had  for  us.  The  flowers  of  the  field  and  the  forest  were 
our  companions,  and  we  knew  when  and  where  to  look 
for  them;  we  knew  the  habit  and  habitat  of  each,  and 
they  were  an  open  book  to  us.  We  knew  the  birds,  and 
were  not  long  in  discovering  that  by  their  flight  and  their 
notes  we  could  tell  the  season,  and  almost  the  hour  of 

11 


the  day.  When  we  heard  in  the  field  the  love-note  of 
the  pinnated  grouse,  or  in  the  woods  heard  the  drum- 
ming of  his  rufted  cousin  on  the  logs,  we  knew  it  was 
time  to  plough  and  plant.  An  approaching  storm  was 
announced  with  certainty  by  the  coming  of  the  quail 
from  his  seclusion  in  the  thicket  to  a  position  where 
he  could  make  his  message  heard.  The  crooning  of  the 
cricket,  and  the  call  of  the  katydid,  each  had  a  meaning 
and  message  that  we  understood.  These  constituted 
the  catechism  from  which  we  learned  to  believe  in 
Deity,  and  the  larger  and  diviner  life  for  man." 

To  return  to  the  autobiography: 

**The  farm  was  about  three  miles  east  of  the  village 
of  Joliet,  and  the  early  schools  were  the  ordinary  district 
schools  with  one  teacher  for  a  few  months  in  each  year. 
In  winter  they  used  to  have  spelling  contests  every  week 
in  one  of  the  three  schools  located  at  three  points  of  a 
triangle  named  Jericho,  Babylon,  and  Bagdad.  Harlow 
had  the  distinction  of  being  the  champion  speller  when 
he  was  so  small  that  he  had  to  stand  on  a  box  to  be  as 
high  as  the  others  in  the  class. 

**In  order  to  give  his  children  a  better  school,  Henry 
Dumont  Higinbotham  built  a  house  in  the  village  of 
Joliet  about  1855  and  moved  there.  This  was  his  home 
until  his  death  in  1865. 

"In  1857  the  nineteen-year-old  youth  accepted  a 
position  as  bookkeeper  and  teller  in  a  bank  in  Joliet, 
after  which  he  was  cashier  of  the  Bank  of  Oconto,  at 
Oconto,  Wisconsin.  In  1860  he  became  entry  clerk, 
bookkeeper  and  cashier  for  Cooley,  Farwell  6b  Company, 
wholesale  dry-goods  dealers  in  Chicago,  a  city  he  had 

12 


first  discovered  long  before  from  the  top  of  a  load  of 
hay  which  he  had  brought  there  to  sell  as  a  boy.  In 
1862  he  left  Chicago  to  go  to  the  Civil  War. 

"He  first  enlisted  in  the  Mercantile  Battery,  but  was 
rejected  on  account  of  poor  health.  Then  he  obtained 
a  position  as  clerk  in  the  Quartermaster's  Department, 
and  went  to  Clarksburg,  West  Virginia.  His  service 
there  being  much  in  the  open  and  on  horseback,  his 
health  was  restored.  While  there  he  organized  a  com- 
pany of  infantry,  as  a  guard  to  protect  Clarksburg  as 
a  base  for  supplies  for  the  United  States  army,  which 
was  always  in  the  mountains,  frequently  leaving  its 
base  unprotected.  He  was  captain  of  this  company, 
which  was  called  the  Kelley  Guards,  General  Kelley 
then  being  in  command  of  the  department.  While  in 
Chicago  Mr.  Higinbotham  had  belonged  to  the  old 
Zouaves,  and  had  been  drilled  in  the  manual  of  arms 
and  company  formation  and  tactics.  The  Government 
supplied  the  Kelley  Guards  with  arms  and  ammunition, 
and  their  presence  perhaps  prevented  raids  that  might 
have  been  made.  The  company  was  made  up  of  men 
employed  in  the  Quartermaster's  and  Commissary 
departments. 

*'In  1863  and  1864  Higinbotham  served  in  like  capacity 
in  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  and  concluded  his  service 
at  Hagerstown,  Maryland,  at  the  close  of  the  war. 

"Returning  to  Chicago  in  1865,  he  engaged  as  book- 
keeper with  the  new  firm  just  commencing  business  as 
Field,  Palmer  8b  Leiter.  This  firm  changed  in  1867  to 
Field,  Leiter  8b  Co.,  and  a  few  years  later  to  the  present 
firm  of  Marshall  Field  8b  Co.     Mr.  Higinbotham  was 


13 


a  member  of  that  firm  and  remained  in  that  business 
until  he  retired  in  1902.  In  his  later  years  he  was  the 
only  original  member  of  that  firm  still  living." 

On  December  seventh,  1865,  occurred  his  marriage 
to  Miss  Rachel  Davison,  of  Joliet.  Her  mother  was 
Priscilla  Moore,  whose  ancestors  were  of  Scotch  descent, 
and  came  to  this  country  in  1723,  settling  in  London- 
derry, N.  H.  The  two  had  been  acquainted  since 
childhood,  their  fathers'  farms  being  side  by  side. 
They  attended  the  same  school,  and  later,  when  Rachel 
Davison  was  the  belle  of  Joliet,  their  friendship  grew 
and  culminated  in  their  marriage.  Six  children — ^two 
sons  and  four  daughters — ^were  born  of  this  union. 
Two  of  the  daughters  died  in  infancy.  The  four  sur- 
viving are  Harlow  Davison  Higinbotham,  Henry  Morti- 
mer Higinbotham,  Florence,  wife  of  Richard  T.  Crane, 
Jr.,  and  Alice,  wife  of  Joseph  Medill  Patterson. 

During  the  presidential  campaign  of  1864,  when  a 
large  parade  was  to  be  held  in  Joliet  in  honor  of  Mc- 
Clellan  and  Pendleton,  the  democratic  candidates, 
Rachel  Davison  had  been  selected  to  head  it  because 
of  her  great  beauty  and  fine  horsemanship;  and  this 
beauty  remained  with  her  until  her  death  on  June 
twenty-fifth,  1909. 

Although  modest  and  shy,  Mrs.  Higinbotham  was  a 
strong  personality.  She  cared  little  for  social  life,  never 
seeking  conspicuous  position,  her  home  and  children 
being  always  uppermost  in  her  thoughts.  Her  sense  of 
duty,  and  her  thrift  when  a  young  matron,  aided  her 
husband  to  attain  an  influential  position  in  the  com- 
munity.    She  exerted  a  strong  influence,  and  during 

^14 


their  life  together  was  companion,  adviser,  and  assistant 
in  large  business  undertakings  and  in  philanthropic 
work.  Like  him,  she  was  always  kind,  and  always 
mindful  of  those  in  need. 

During  the  World's  Fair,  her  gracious  hospitality 
made  their  home  the  centre  of  Chicago's  social  life. 
Their  house  on  Michigan  Avenue,  designed  in  early 
French  renaissance  by  F.  Meredith  Whitehouse,  was  a 
charming  setting  for  the  many  entertainments  given  for 
distinguished  visitors. 

We  now  return  to  Mr.  Higinbotham's  narrative: 

**At  the  time  of  the  Chicago  fire  on  October  ninth, 
1871,  Higinbotham  was  in  charge  of  the  Insurance  and 
Accounting  Department  of  the  business  of  Field,  Leiter 
&  Co.,  and  was  only  an  employe  of  the  firm.  Without 
waiting  for  instructions,  he  went  to  their  barns  and 
called  out  all  the  drivers  with  their  teams;  and  he  and 
they  went  at  once  to  the  store  and  commenced  carting 
away  the  most  valuable  goods  to  a  point  south  of  the 
fire  limit  or  belt.  They  continued  this  all  night,  and 
at  the  same  time,  by  changing  blankets  in  the  windows 
and  keeping  them  wet,  they  kept  off  the  fire  until  it 
had  passed  them  on  the  opposite  side  of  State  Street, 
gone  north  a  mile  or  more  and  burned  the  city  water- 
works. This  occurred  at  about  seven  in  the  morning 
of  October  tenth,  Higinbotham's  thirty-third  birthday. 

"With  their  water  supply  thus  cut  off,  they  were 
helpless  and  had  to  abandon  the  store  and  its  contents 
to  the  fire  that  slowly  backed  up  from  the  north  and 
drove  them  out.  A  later  inventory  showed  that  they 
had  saved  a  little  over  six  hundred  thousand  dollars* 

15 


worth  of  goods,  their  proofs  of  loss  showed  that  a  little 
over  two  million  and  a  half  had  been  burned,  and  their 
insurance  amounted  to  nineteen  hundred  thousand 
dollars.  This  would  indicate  a  loss  of  six  hundred 
thousand  dollars.  It  was,  however,  much  greater  for 
the  reason  that  many  of  the  insurance  companies  were 
imable  to  pay  their  obligations,  a  number  not  more 
than  ten  cents  on  the  dollar.  A  portion  of  the  saved 
goods  were  in  the  car  bams  at  Twentieth  and  State 
Streets,  some  in  a  wooden  church  at  Thirty-second 
Street  and  South  Park  Avenue.  Higinbotham's  home 
was  then  on  Prairie  Avenue  near  Twenty-seventh 
Street. 

"Higinbotham  went  from  the  fire  directly  to  Mr. 
Leiter's  home,  and  told  him  of  a  plan  he  had  formed  for 
the  re-establishment  of  the  business.  Mr.  Leiter  threw 
up  both  hands  and  exclaimed,  *Oh,  Higinbotham!  It 
is  too  early  to  make  plans — Chicago  is  gone!'  Mr. 
Higinbotham  replied,  *No,  no — ^we  have  got  to  do 
these  things  anyway.'  His  plan  was  for  Mr.  Field  to 
give  his  attention  to  finding  a  place  wherein  to  re- 
establish the  business;  Mr.  Leiter  was  to  take  charge 
of  the  saved  goods,  and  have  them  inventoried  so  that 
the  inventory  would  show  the  contents  of  each  case. 
Higinbotham  had  in  mind  the  adjusting  of  the  loss,  as 
that  was  one  of  the  first  essentials.  Mr.  Willing,  a 
junior  partner,  was  to  go  to  Valparaiso,  Indiana,  stop 
all  goods  coming  from  the  east,  and  warehouse  and 
insure  them  until  the  Company  was  ready  to  have  them 
sent  in.  Mr.  Higinbotham  was  to  take  his  family  and 
Mr.  Leiter's,   and  all  the  bookkeepers  and  books  of 

16 


account,  cash  and  valuable  papers,  and  go  at  once  to 
Joliet  and  there  remain  until  a  place  had  been  arranged 
for  at  least  an  office  in  the  city.  This  plan,  which  was 
formulated  while  he  was  saving  the  goods,  was  carried 
out  in  every  particular.  In  Joliet  the  office  of  Field, 
Leiter  &  Co.  was  for  two  weeks  in  his  mother's  house, 
and  she  took  care  of  a  number  of  the  bookkeepers  during 
their  stay.  He  then  went  with  his  wife  and  baby  to 
Cincinnati,  St.  Louis  and  San  Francisco  to  adjust  and 
collect  insurance.  A  number  of  the  companies  in  these 
cities  having  no  agencies  in  Chicago  had  failed.  It  was 
his  business  to  ascertain  how  much  their  assets  would 
pay,  collect  the  money  and  return  as  quickly  as  possible. 

"The  business  was  soon  re-established,  and  went 
through  that  year  with  a  net  profit  of  over  three  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  notwithstanding  that  two  and  a  half 
millions  had  been  burned  up  in  a  single  night.  It  was 
then  that  Mr.  Leiter  said,  *Higinbotham,  we  are  going 
to  give  you  an  interest  in  this  business!'  meaning,  of 
course,  a  share  in  the  profits.  Later  he  was  made  a 
partner  and  remained  in  the  firm  until  1902." 

Unfortunately,  Mr.  Higinbotham's  sudden  death  pre- 
vented his  completing  this  autobiographical  sketch  with 
any  fulness  of  detail.  We  have  merely  a  few  rough 
notes — ^two  or  three  typewritten  pages — in  regard  to 
his  public  activities,  of  which  his  work  for  the  World's 
Columbian  Exposition  was  the  most  important. 

From  the  first  he  was  an  enthusiast  in  this  movement 
for  a  fit  celebration  of  the  great  quadri-centennial 
anniversary,  and  for  the  location  of  the  world  festival 
in  Chicago.     As  he  said  years  after,  at  a  banquet  to  a 

17 


group  of  Japanese  commissioners,  who  were  promoting 
a  proposed  exposition  in  Tokio:  "In  the  years  pre- 
ceding our  Columbian  festival,  peace  reigned  throughout 
the  world.  It  was  an  opportune  time  for  the  assembling 
of  the  animate  and  inanimate  parliaments,  a  time  for 
the  world  to  pause,  take  account  of  stock,  to  note 
progress  in  all  the  things  that  make  for  peace  and 
himianity's  good;  a  time  for  the  exchange  of  greetings 
between  the  peoples  and  the  nations  of  the  earth.  You 
will  all  remember  with  what  zeal  Chicago  entered  into 
competition  for  the  honor  of  being  the  host  on  that 
occasion.  You  will  also  remember  the  satisfaction  and 
pride  that  filled  our  hearts  when  we  had  won  the  dis- 
tinguished honor,  and  the  heroic  efforts  we  put  forth  to 
fulfil  our  pledge.  To  the  older  civilizations  of  the  world 
it  seemed  presumptuous  that  a  new  city  in  a  far  country 
should  appear  in  such  a  role.  Our  nearer  neighbors 
predicted  failure,  and  this  stimulated  us  to  greater 
effort;  with  a  result  that  it  is  not  even  necessary  to  refer 
to,  except  in  so  far  as  to  show  its  beneficent  influence 
and  substantial  value  to  the  world." 

And  this  further  extract  from  the  address  shows  that 
his  motive  was  not  merely  local,  that  his  vision  embraced 
a  world-wide  ideal  of  humane  values  involved  in  these 
great  festivals  of  peace: 

"The  International  Exposition,  where  the  richest  and 
rarest  products  meet  in  friendly  competition,  where  the 
ripest  wisdom  of  the  ages  is  represented  by  the  scholars 
and  thinkers  of  all  the  world,  cannot  but  result  in  great 
and  lasting  good  and  in  promoting  peace  and  good  will. 

18 


"The  Exposition  stands  at  the  meeting  of  the  world's 
highways,  where  gather  the  nations  of  the  earth,  bur- 
dened each  with  the  evidences  of  its  newest  and  noblest 
achievements.  It  is  an  epitome  of  the  world's  progress, 
a  history  and  a  prophecy. 

"The  latest  discoveries,  the  newest  inventions,  the 
triumphs  in  art,  in  science,  in  education,  in  the  solution 
of  social  and  even  of  religious  problems,  are  here 
arrayed;  whatever  testifies  to  the  industry,  the  skill,  the 
creative  and  almost  divine  power  of  human  thought 
when  stimulated  to  its  most  earnest  endeavors. 

"The  more  we  share  with  others  the  good  we  possess, 
the  more  shall  they  share  with  us  the  things  and  thoughts 
that  make  for  peace  with  them.  The  more  we  all 
strive  for  the  common  good,  the  nearer  we  shall  attain 
to  universal  brotherhood." 

Thus  inspired,  he  was  deeply  engaged  in  the  enter- 
prise from  the  first.  In  1890  he  had  much  to  do  with 
securing  from  Congress  the  honor  of  holding  the  Expo- 
sition in  Chicago.  After  it  was  so  decided,  he  was 
commissioned  to  go  abroad  to  promote  interest  in  the 
Fair — was  a  director  and  a  member  of  important 
committees — Finance,  Ways  and  Means,  Foreign  Ex- 
hibits; and  later,  in  August,  1892,  was  made  President 
of  the  Directory  and  Chairman  of  the  Council  of  Ad- 
ministration, a  body  of  four,  chosen  half  from  the 
Directory  and  half  from  the  National  Commission 
created  by  Congress.  This  Council  was  clothed  with 
the  full  power  of  all  other  bodies  and  committees,  and 
charged  with  the  completion  and  administration  of  the 
Exposition  at  a  time  when  the  treasury  was  empty  and 

19 


the  enterprise  was  thought  to  be  a  failure.  During  that 
summer  Mr.  Marshall  Field,  Mr.  Higinbotham's  partner 
and  head  of  the  firm,  was  absent  in  Germany;  and  he 
withheld  his  consent  to  Mr.  Higinbotham's  accepting 
the  Presidency,  because  he  felt  that  the  probable  failure 
of  the  enterprise  would  reflect  on  their  business.  To 
convince  him,  Mr.  Higinbotham  wrote  him  the  exact 
status  of  the  Fair,  what  he  thought  he  could  do  with  it 
if  Mr.  Field  would  consent,  and  his  reluctance  to  refuse 
his  services  at  a  time  of  crisis. 

In  regard  to  this,  Mr.  Higinbotham  has  stated:  **I 
remember  saying  that  he  would  not  be  glad  he  lived 
in  Chicago  if  the  Fair  was  a  failure,  and  his  property 
would  not  be  worth  half  as  much.  I  also  wrote  him 
how  many  people  would  attend  the  Fair  and  how  much 
we  would  receive  from  concessions,  estimating  about  as 
follows : 

Admissions,  22,000,000 $11,000,000 

Concessions 4,000,000 

Residuum,  Building  Material,  etc 1,000,000 

$16,000,000 
"Then  I  wrote  him  that  it  would  cost  to 
complete  and  administer  the  Fair 9,000,000 


and  we  would  have  $7,000,000 
to  pay  back  to  bondholders  and  stockholders.  These 
were  arguments  that  he  could  understand  when  far 
away,  and  he  cabled  me,  'All  right,  go  ahead.'  I  did, 
and  we  made  the  prognosis  good  and  a  little  more.  I 
wish  I  had  time,  space  and  patience  to  tell  you  how  I 

20 


based  my  estimates  for  attendance,  and  then  tell  you 
how  hard  I  worked  to  make  it  all  come  true.  The 
other  members  of  the  Council  of  Administration  agreed 
at  the  first  meeting  to  stand  by  and  support  me  all  the 
time  and  always.  This  they  did,  with  the  result  that 
at  the  conclusion,  with  six  thousand  written  pages,  we 
did  not  have  a  single  negative  vote  recorded  in  the 
minutes  of  our  meetings.  The  members  of  the  Council 
of  Administration,  besides  the  Chairman,  were:  George 
V.  Massey  of  Dover,  Delaware;  J.  W.  St.  Clair  of  West 
Virginia  and  Charles  H.  Schwab  of  Chicago." 

Mr.  Massey,  the  only  surviving  one  of  the  four, 
corroborates  this  assertion  of  harmony,  and  adds  the 
following  appreciation  of  his  dead  colleague's  services: 

"As  one  of  his  associates  in  the  Council,  I  was  af- 
forded exceptional  opportunity  to  become  acquainted 
with  his  wonderful  capacity  for  effective  work  along  the 
most  judicious  and  practical  lines;  and  the  knowledge 
of  his  envied  characteristics,  thereby  derived,  warrants 
the  statement  that  the  successful  results  of  the  Exhibi- 
tion were  more  largely  attributable  to  his  untiring  and 
energetic  efforts  than  to  any  other  official  related  to  the 
undertaking." 

The  year  or  two  covered  by  those  six  thousand  pages 
of  minutes  was  a  period  of  dramatic  intensity  for  the 
man  at  the  head  of  the  vast  enterprise.  The  local 
Board  of  Directors,  composed  of  Chicago  business  men, 
was  the  great  working  body  which  organized,  paid  for, 
and  ran  the  Fair,  the  National  Commission  being  a 
more  or  less  ornamental  consort  appointed  by  the 
Government    to    give    the    Exposition    authority    and 

21 


dignity  in  the  eyes  of  the  invited  nations.  When  Mr. 
Higinbotham,  on  August  eighteenth,  1892,  accepted  the 
presidency  of  the  Directory,  after  the  successive  resig- 
nations of  Lyman  J.  Gage  and  William  T.  Baker,  the 
early  local  enthusiasm  had  given  way  to  despondency, 
for  the  impression  had  gathered  force  that  soaring 
expenses  could  never  be  met  even  to  the  extent  of 
repaying  the  bonded  indebtedness,  not  to  speak  of 
the  stockholders. 

As  president  of  the  Board  of  Directors,  Chairman 
of  the  Council  of  Administration,  and  member  of  the 
Bureau  of  Admissions  and  Collections,  Mr.  Higin- 
botham held  three  offices,  each  involving  "heavy  re- 
sponsibilities which  could  not  be  delegated,  resting  upon 
powers  which  were  ill-defined,  yet  were  co-extensive 
with  the  purposes  of  the  company's  incorporation." 
For  over  two  years  these  duties  required  his  entire 
time — often  from  twelve  to  sixteen  hours  out  of  the 
twenty-four — and  more  than  a  man's  due  share  of 
physical  and  mental  energy. 

The  story  is  told  with  outward  completeness  in  the 
"Report  of  the  President  to  the  Board  of  Directors  of 
the  World's  Columbian  Exposition,"  a  volume  of  323 
octavo  pages  (exclusive  of  appendices)  written  in  that 
clear,  concise  and  vivid  narrative  style  which  was  always 
at  Mr.  Higinbotham's  command.  Outward  complete- 
ness only,  for  one  must  read  between  the  lines  of  any 
formal  report  to  discover  the  heart-story  involved;  and 
in  this  case,  as  in  all  Mr.  Higinbotham's  activities,  the 
heart-story  was  the  central  motive. 


22 


He  undertook  this  public  service  from  the  purest 
instinct  of  civic  pride  and  loyalty — love  of  his  city  and 
state,  pride  in  the  great  festival  and  delight  in  the  ideal 
involved — its  consummation  of  democracy  in  beauty 
representing  the  union  of  many  creative  wills.  The 
Exposition  was  the  first  effort  of  our  American  democ- 
racy to  achieve,  in  any  large  sense,  such  a  consummation. 
Thus,  to  any  man  of  vision,  it  was  prophetic  of  a  new 
era,  and  worthy  of  all  that  the  individual  could  give. 
Mr.  Higinbotham's  gift  was  an  indomitable  will  and  a 
mind  trained  to  finance,  knowledge  of  men,  quick 
decision  of  difficult  problems,  and  unfailing  resource  in 
initiative. 

One  cannot  tell  the  whole  long  story  here,  but  a  few 
characteristic  incidents  may  be  referred  to.  The  elec- 
tric light  contest,  for  example,  illustrates  Mr.  Higin- 
botham's skill  and  patience  in  handling  would-be 
profiteers — for  public  spirit  among  contractors  was  not 
the  universal  rule.  At  this  time,  the  spring  of  1892,  he 
was  vice-president  of  the  Board  of  Directors,  but  acting 
as  president  in  Mr.  Baker's  absence.  Powerful  companies 
in  collusion  presented  bids  averaging  $18.00  per  in- 
candescent lamp  for  the  six  months  the  Fair  was  to 
endure;  but  by  playing  other  companies  against  them, 
and  refusing  to  be  stampeded  into  immediate  action, 
he  gradually  reduced  this  bid  to  $5.95  per  lamp,  and 
finally  gave  the  contract  to  another  company  at  a  still 
lower  figure.  In  the  end  the  sum  paid  for  the  entire 
service  was  $399,000,  as  against  the  $1,675,720,  originally 
demanded. 

23 


Indeed  the  financial  history  of  the  Fair  was  one  long 
series  of  contests  and  anxieties  for  its  president.  Again 
and  again  the  enterprise  would  have  failed  for  lack  of 
funds  if  the  situation  had  been  less  skilfully  handled; 
and  although  failure  would  have  meant  national  dis- 
honor, the  Congress  at  Washington  did  not  show  any 
proper  sense  of  partnership  in  a  great  national  festival 
which  was  to  cost  over  twenty-eight  millions.  Instead 
of  the  five  millions  which  had  been  listed  for  eight 
months  in  the  appropriation  bill  and  counted  upon  with 
reasonable  assurance,  the  government  at  last,  during 
the  hot  summer  of  1892,  compromised  on  two  millions 
and  a  half  in  souvenir  coins  of  uncertain  sale;  and 
afterwards,  at  a  moment  of  imminent  financial  crisis, 
it  withheld  more  than  a  fifth  of  that  sum  ($570,880)  to 
pay  the  expenses  of  its  own  department  of  awards,  a 
department  over  which  the  Directory  had  no  jurisdiction 
whatever. 

What  this  cost  the  company's  president  during  the 
following  months  of  enormous  expenditure,  when  con- 
struction bills  for  material  and  labor  had  to  be  met  if 
the  work  was  to  go  on,  can  hardly  be  estimated.  The 
year  from  August,  1892,  to  August,  1893,  was  a  time 
of  incredible  strain  for  the  man  at  the  helm.  The 
writer  vividly  remembers  a  chance  meeting  with  Mr. 
Higinbotham  in  July,  1893.  Although  she  had  felt  that 
the  attendance  thus  far  was  slight,  she  had  not  realized 
the  financial  issue  involved.  One  glance  at  the  familiar 
face,  however,  informed  her  of  the  danger;  gave  her  an 
emotion  of  anxiety  which  she  will  never  forget.  The 
face,  usually  smiling  and  even  tender  with  friends,  was 

24 


white  and  stem  and  drawn;  incredibly  strong  and  firm, 
but  cold  and  hard ;  the  face  of  a  ship  captain  through  a 
tornado,  of  a  general  when  the  battle  seems  going 
wrong;  recording  a  moment  when  individual  emotion 
was  swallowed  up  in  the  tragic  passion  of  leadership 
through  imminent  disaster. 

Fortunately  this  long  and  ever  increasing  strain 
began  to  diminish  soon  after.  In  August  the  gate 
receipts  began  to  creep  up,  so  that  the  bondholders 
became  less  clamorous  and  the  Board  of  Directors  less 
apprehensive;  and  the  phenomenal  "Chicago  Day" 
attendance  of  October  ninth — the  twenty-second  anni- 
versary of  the  Fire  which  a  young  employe  had  fought 
for  Field,  Leiter  8b  Co. — a  day  when  761,942  persons 
went  through  the  turn-stiles,  enabled  the  Treasurer  of 
the  Exposition  to  pay  the  bondholders  in  full. 

But  finances  were  only  one  detail,  though  of  course 
the  most  important,  the  most  fundamental,  to  the 
responsible  Company  and  its  president.  Other  issues 
involved  brought  less  anxiety  and  more  joy,  introducing 
an  infinite  variety  of  experience  and  motive  into  the 
life  of  a  middle-western  American  merchant.  Of  these 
were  the  president's  relations  with  the  board  of  archi- 
tects, those  distinguished  artists  from  far  and  near 
who  designed  and  built  the  Fair.  In  this  connection 
may  be  mentioned  his  life-long  loyalty  to  the  memory 
of  John  Wellborn  Root,  the  first  consulting  architect, 
who  made  the  ground  plan  of  the  Fair,  admittedly  a 
master-piece  of  great-festival  design,  but  suddenly  died 
— in  January,  1891 — before  he  could  lead  in  carrying 
it  out.     Mr.  Higinbotham,  to  the  end  of  his  life,  loyally 

25 


insisted  on  ascribing  the  beauty  of  the  Fair  chiefly  to 
the  genius  of  this  man,  contending  always  against  rival 
claims  and  the  forgetfulness  of  time. 

The  aesthetic  and  picturesque  aspects  of  the  Fair  build- 
ing included  also  personal  relations — ^which  often,  to  a 
warm-hearted  man  like  Mr.  Higinbotham,  became 
friendships — with  painters,  sculptors,  musicians,  even 
poets;  with  foreign  Commissioners,  government  and 
state  officials;  with  eager  concessionaires  from  far  and 
near;  indeed  with  all  the  various  types  of  human  self- 
interest  and  idealistic  enthusiasm  which  a  vast  festival 
gathers  together.  In  each  case  the  president,  in  his 
council  of  four,  must  hold  the  even  scales  of  justice, 
settling  all  disputes  aesthetic  or  temporal,  and  getting 
or  giving  a  reasonable  price  for  what  was  granted  or 
secured. 

Many  of  these  disputes  were  little  less  than  agonies  to 
the  persons  involved,  and  in  these  cases  Mr.  Higin- 
botham's  quick  sympathies  became  deeply  engaged,  and 
he  spent  over  them  many  hours  which  should  have  been 
given  to  sleep.  One  such  incident  may  be  briefly 
dwelt  upon,  not  because  it  was  more  important  than 
others,  but  because  it  was  typical  of  countless  minor 
disputes  which  went  for  final  settlement  to  the  Council 
of  Administration,  and  because  the  writer,  as  the  author 
of  the  poem  involved,  happens  to  know  about  it. 

This  was  the  "Columbian  Ode"  episode — a  story 
which  Mr.  Higinbotham  delighted  to  tell  to  the  end 
of  his  life.  This  poem  had  been  imanimously  requested 
of  the  author  by  the  Committee  on  Ceremonies  and 
definitely  accepted  by  that  body  for  the  great  day  of  the 

25 


Dedication  of  Buildings — the  four -hundredth  anni- 
versary of  the  Discovery  of  America.  But  a  small 
group  in  the  committee  suddenly  ceased  to  favor  the 
poem,  and  set  up  a  violent  opposition  in  the  effort  to 
have  it  annulled  as  a  feature  of  the  Dedication  Day 
program.  The  dispute  became  so  bitter  that  a  peaceful 
decision  in  the  Committee  became  impossible,  and  the 
matter  was  referred  to  the  Council  of  Administration 
for  settlement. 

This  was  in  mid-September,  1892 — the  Dedication 
of  Buildings  was  only  a  month  away.  The  writer,  who 
had  just  returned  from  a  summer  outing,  was  summoned 
to  present  her  side  of  the  question  at  an  evening  session 
of  the  Council  of  Administration.  At  this  time  she 
had  never  met  Mr.  Higinbotham,  who  took  the  chair 
soon  after  her  arrival — a  simple,  quiet  man  in  the  prime 
of  life,  of  slight  figure,  fine  shapely  head,  regular  features 
rather  delicate  in  contour,  and  dark  wavy  hair  and 
beard  streaked  with  a  few  threads  of  gray.  Near  him 
were  two  other  members  of  the  Council  of  Administra- 
tion. 

It  was  strictly  a  business  session,  and  the  writer  was 
interested  to  observe  how  simply  and  easily  various 
widely  differing  details  were  disposed  of,  either  directly 
or  by  reference  to  individuals  or  committees;  details  of 
the  roofing  contract,  the  power  plants,  the  sewerage 
system;  applications  from  would-be  concessionaires; 
and  Dedication  Day  arrangements — program-printing, 
livery  charges,  the  military  procession,  plans  for  trans- 
porting and  seating  the  vast  throng  of  over  an  hundred 
thousand  persons  who  were  being  invited  to  assemble 

27 


under  the  lofty  glazed  and  vaulted  roof  of  the  Manu- 
facturers' Building,  to  celebrate  the  quadri-centennial 
anniversary  of  one  of  the  supreme  events  in  the  history 
of  the  world.  And  one  of  these  details  was  the  dispute, 
inherited  from  the  Committee  on  Ceremonies,  about 
the  "Columbian  Ode" — whether  or  not  a  portion  of  it 
should  be  read  and  sung  before  the  great  audience  on 
the  great  day. 

The  opponents  presented  their  case;  they  were  not 
satisfied  with  either  the  author,  who  should  have  been 
a  poet  of  distinction  like  the  aged  Whittier,  or  the  ode 
itself,  which  was  too  long  for  the  occasion,  and  which 
contained,  moreover,  a  sixty-line  tribute  to  a  deceased 
relative  of  the  author — a  tribute  which  she  had  declined 
to  omit. 

The  writer  met  these  objections  as  well  as  she  could, 
pointing  out  especially  that  the  tribute  in  question — 
to  the  Fair's  first  architect-in-chief — was  due  to  his 
memory  on  this  great  day,  especially  as  it  was  only 
three  lines  and  a  half  long  instead  of  the  sixty-four 
complained  of. 

Mr.  Higinbotham  asked  the  writer  to  read  the 
questioned  tribute,  and  then  remarked:  ''It's  hardly 
enough  to  say  of  the  great  architect  who  planned  the 
Fair,  whose  death  at  his  post  during  that  first  year  was 
the  heaviest  blow  it  could  possibly  have  received.  A 
poem  for  this  dedication  which  did  not  refer  to  him 
would  be  gravely  defective,  in  my  opinion." 

Mr.  Higinbotham  used  to  say  afterwards:  "Her 
poem  had  been  asked  for,  approved  by  experts  and 
accepted  by  the  Committee  on  Ceremonies,  and  I  made 

28 


up  my  mind  that  as  much  of  it  should  be  read  as  we 
had  time  for  in  the  program,  including  the  tribute  to 
John  Root."     And  it  was  so  ordered. 

At  last  the  long  anticipated  anniversary  arrived. 
It  is  impossible  to  exaggerate  the  beauty  of  the  late 
October  day,  the  dramatic  splendor  of  the  festival,  or 
the  ardent  spirit  of  that  vivid  audience,  whose  gay 
colors  fluttered  into  rainbow  brilliancy  as  the  sun 
struck  down  through  the  glass  roof.  Mr.  Higinbotham 
wrote  in  his  report: 

**The  scene  in  the  Manufacturers'  Building  will  never 
be  forgotten  by  those  who  witnessed  it.  The  grand 
platform  was  occupied  by  officers  of  the  national  govern- 
ment, members  of  the  diplomatic  corps,  officers  of  the 
various  States,  senators  and  representatives,  directors 
and  commissioners.  The  eye  and  brain  could  scarcely 
comprehend  the  vastness  of  the  audience  stretching 
out  before  this  platform.  There  was  little  motion,  but 
the  air  was  resonant  with  an  indescribable  hum  of 
voices.  At  the  south  end  of  the  building  the  chorus  of 
five  thousand  persons  seemed  but  a  mere  island  in  an 
ocean  of  humanity." 

Mr.  Higinbotham's  share  of  the  program  was  a  quiet 
speech  in  which  he  accepted  the  completed  grounds  and 
buildings  from  Daniel  H.  Burnham,  Director  of  Works, 
saluted  **the  master  artists  of  construction"  whom  the 
Director  had  presented,  and  offered  to  him  for  distri- 
bution the  medals  which  had  been  struck  off  by  the 
Directory  for  presentation  to  the  artists  of  the  Fair. 
Everyone  noted  the  simple  dignity  of  his  bearing 
and  speech  on  this  conspicuous  occasion. 

29 


I  have  already  referred  to  the  anxieties  of  the  Fair's 
president  during  the  nine  months  which  followed  the 
Dedication.  The  reward  for  his  long  labor  came  during 
the  last  three  months  of  the  gorgeous  festival,  when  he 
could  enjoy  the  beauty  and  share  the  gay  spirit  of  that 
ephemeral  White  City  which  he  had  done  so  much  to 
create.  For,  though  there  have  been  world's  fairs 
before  and  since  the  Columbian,  no  other  has  rivalled 
it  in  delicate  Venetian  magic.  No  other  has  attempted 
its  inter-weaving  of  water-ways  among  buildings  and 
colonnades,  whose  shining  day-time  beauty  turned  to 
glory  at  night,  when  the  long  rows  of  lights  trailed  their 
golden  fringes  in  the  wide  lagoons.  Mr.  Higinbotham 
delighted  in  the  joy  of  the  people  as  the  festive  spirit 
of  the  crowd  rose  and  gathered  force  during  those  last 
months  of  the  gala  season. 

The  most  important  social  event  of  the  Exposition 
season  was  the  banquet  given  by  the  Board  of  Directors 
on  October  eleventh  to  the  Commissioners  of  foreign 
nations.  The  great  Music  Hall  on  the  grounds  was 
transformed  into  a  brilliantly  lit  bower  of  ferns,  palms 
and  flowers  for  this  occasion,  fitly  adorned  with  the 
flags  of  the  forty-eight  nations  and  the  yellow  and 
white  banners  of  the  Exposition.  Mr.  Higinbotham,  as 
presiding  officer,  opened  the  exchange  of  compliments 
with  a  brief  salutation,  and  the  program  closed  with  his 
address  on  "The  Future  Influence  of  the  Exposition," 
of  which  a  few  sentences  may  be  quoted : 

"The  impress  of  our  work  will  be  so  delicately  and 
interceptibly  woven  into  the  fabric  of  the  future  that 
it  will  have  a  finer  and  more  beautiful  texture.     It  will 


30 


sink  deep  into  the  minds  of  the  learned  and  unlearned 
alike.  It  will  stimulate  the  youth  of  this  and  later 
generations  to  greater  and  more  heroic  effort.  It  will 
give  to  the  wheels  of  commerce  a  new  impetus;  thereby 
bring  the  people  of  the  earth  into  more  intimate  and, 
I  trust,  happier  relations. 

**Let  us  hope  that  future  generations  will  look  back 
to  this  place  with  reverence,  satisfaction  and  pride,  as 
the  spot  where  was  laid  the  deep  foundation  of  a  monu- 
ment that  should  mark  the  dawn  of  a  new  era,  empha- 
sizing the  benign  influence  of  the  gospel  of  peace,  the 
fatherhood  of  God,  and  the  brotherhood  of  man.  Let 
us  indulge  the  fond  hope  that  its  influence  will  increase 
until  it  encircles  the  globe  and  encompasses  the  race. 

"I  have  long  sought  for  some  consolation  to  justify 
the  imminent  destruction  of  our  beautiful  city,  and  I 
can  find  only  this  thought  as  comforting: 

''Whenever  a  people  have  gained  distinction  by  the 
creation  of  some  specially  meritorious  work,  have  de- 
clared it  finished,  and  then  rested  to  contemplate  its 
grandeur  and  magnificence,  feeling  that  there  was 
nothing  greater  for  them  to  do,  they  have  fallen  into 
a  condition  of  decay,  and  from  that  time  become  effemi- 
nate. It  is  better,  therefore,  for  us  to  efface  our  work, 
and  cease  to  delude  ourselves  with  the  thought  that 
there  is  nothing  for  us,  and  those  that  come  after  us, 
to  do.  Let  us  rather  hope  that  what  we  have  done 
will  live,  as  a  stepping-stone  to  grander  and  more 
heroic  efforts,  compensated  with  richer  and  rarer  fruits. 
Let  us  not  take  to  ourselves  the  credit,  and  seek  to 
magnify  unduly  our  creation;  if  it  has  merit  and  excel- 

31 


lence  it  will  speak  for  and  defend  itself.  Let  us  rather 
rejoice  in  the  thought  that  what  has  been  done  is  the 
culmination  of  a  period  in  the  progress  of  the  world; 
that  especially  it  declares  and  emphasizes  the  wisdom 
of  our  fathers  in  the  creation  of  a  government  founded 
on  the  broad  and  enduring  principles  of  human  liberty. 

* 'These  buildings  will  disappear  and  mingle  with  our 
dust,  but  their  glory  will  ever  live,  and  continue  to 
mark  an  era  in  the  progress  of  civilization  long  after 
their  creators  have  been  forgotten. 

"There  is  a  sense  in  which  the  material  side  of  our 
work  seems  insignificant;  compared  to  the  kindly  feeling 
that  has  been  augmented  by  the  gathering  of  represen- 
tatives of  the  nations  of  the  earth  it  is  of  slight  import- 
ance. The  culmination  of  these  close"  relations  of  the 
heart  will  have  more  lasting  benefit,  will  permeate  more 
peoples,  enduring  through  all  time,  and  growing  brighter 
and  brighter  unto  the  perfect  day." 

In  every  detail  of  his  connection  with  the  national 
festival,  Mr.  Higinbotham  was  an  effective  presiding 
officer.  While  making  no  pretense  of  oratory  in  ad- 
dressing an  audience,  his  personal  distinction  of  manner 
and  the  quiet  earnestness  of  his  voice  added  to  the  force 
and  beauty  of  a  diction  concise  and  vivid.  In  closer 
contacts  he  never  lost  his  patience,  yet  never  retreated 
from  a  just  decision.  In  the  personal  intimacies  which 
developed  with  all  kinds  of  people,  he  was  unfailingly 
sympathetic  and  generous ;  and  when  these  ripened  into 
friendship,  his  warm-hearted  loyalty  became  a  precious 
possession  in  his  own  spirit  and  in  those  it  honored. 

32 


On  May  first,  1895,  the  Board  of  Directors  presented 
a  silver  vase  as  a  testimonial  to  their  president,  his  work 
now  almost  over.  Their  spokesman,  Edwin  Walker,  in 
the  course  of  his  address,  said: 

"I  am  commissioned  by  all  who  are  or  have  been 
Directors  to  make,  in  their  name,  public  recognition  of 
the  invaluable  services  of  our  President,  Harlow  N. 
Higinbotham.  We  all  recognize  his  incessant  labor,  his 
zeal  and  loyalty,  from  the  first  organization  of  the 
Board,  but  more  especially  from  the  date  of  his  official 
relations  until  the  present  time.  He  is  still  our  Presi- 
dent. 

* 'Possibly  in  some  respects  I  have  more  intimate 
knowledge  of  the  magnitude  of  his  labors  than  other 
members  of  the  Board,  on  account  of  the  close  relations 
of  our  official  positions;  but  we  all  know  that  during 
the  lifetime  of  the  Exposition  proper  the  cares  and 
responsibilities  of  his  office  were  almost  beyond  human 
endurance.  He  brought  to  the  work  all  his  mental  and 
physical  strength,  his  integrity  of  character,  and  all  the 
elements  of  a  generous  manhood.  His  work  did  not 
close  with  the  Exposition.  He  was  charged  with  the 
settlement  and  adjustment  of  a  large  proportion  of  the 
varied  claims  made  against  the  Exposition.  These 
labors  have  been  especially  annoying  and  perplexing. 

"But  the  end  of  all  his  and  our  special  work  is  rapidly 
approaching.  Within  a  reasonable  time  we  shall  be 
able,  as  a  corporation,  to  surrender  back  to  the  people 
the  trust  confided  to  us,  with  the  hope  that  all  the  people 
will  give  us  the  credit  of  having  assumed  and  honestly 
discharged  a  public  duty  and  great  public  trust. 

33 


"And  now,  President  Higinbotham,  in  behalf  of  your 
friends  of  the  Directory,  I  present  this  testimonial.  I 
repeat  the  inscription  engraved  thereon  as  the  better 
expression  of  the  earnest  appreciation  by  your  friends, 
of  your  unswerving  fidelity  to  official  duty: 

*'  *By  this  testimonial,  the  Directors  record  their 
thorough  appreciation  of  the  untiring  labors,  and  un- 
selfish, devotion  to  official  duty,  of  their  President, 
Harlow  N.  Higinbotham — a  souvenir  of  pleasant  asso- 
ciations, abiding  friendships,  and  of  the  inspiration, 
administration,  and  glorious  ending  of  the  World's 
Columbian  Exposition  of  1893.'  " 

In  closing  this  chapter  of  his  life  we  must,  for  the 
moment,  pass  over  a  quarter-century  to  that  May-day 
of  1918  when  Daniel  Chester  French's  statue  of  the 
Republic  was  dedicated  in  Jackson  Park  as  a  memorial 
of  the  Exposition.  To  reproduce  in  bronze  of  heroic 
size  this  figure,  which  had  dominated  the  Court  of 
Honor  in  1893,  the  last  residue  of  Exposition  funds  was 
used,  Mr.  Higinbotham  having  successfully  resisted 
numerous  efforts  to  spend  the  money  less  fitly.  All  the 
members  of  the  old  Board  of  Directors  who  were  alive 
and  in  Chicago  surrounded  its  president  as  his  little 
grand-daughters,  Florence  Crane  and  Priscilla  Higin- 
botham, unveiled  the  monument,  and  portions  of  the 
"Columbian  Ode"  were  read  by  its  author. 

Mr.  Higinbotham  made  the  following  address,  which 
happened  to  be  his  last  public  utterance: 

"It  is  my  pleasure  to  deliver  into  the  care  and  keeping 
of  the  South  Park  Commissioners  this  statue.  It  has 
been  created  as  a  memorial  of  the  Exposition  held  here 

34 


a  quarter  of  a  century  ago  to  celebrate  the  Four-hun- 
dredth Anniversary  of  the  Discovery  of  America  by 
Columbus.  The  Discovery  and  the  celebration  four 
hundred  years  later,  in  which  the  peoples  of  the  earth 
so  generously  united,  are  landmarks,  milestones,  on  the 
highway  of  civilization. 

**This  statue  is  intended  to  commemorate  both  events, 
and  is  in  such  form  as  to  do  them  the  highest  honor. 
It  is  made  of  purest  metal.  It  is  of  heroic  size,  thus 
indicating  that  the  events  it  commemorates  were 
notable.  It  is  in  the  image  of  a  woman,  typifying 
purity,  strength,  motherhood.  Thus  it  suggests  those 
qualities  that  in  all  the  ages  have  commanded  love  and 
respect. 

**I  cannot  allow  this  last  opportunity  to  speak  of  the 
World's  Columbian  Exposition  to  pass  without  paying 
tribute  to  its  high  purpose,  its  beauty  and  beneficent 
influence.  It  sprang  into  being  under  circumstances  and 
conditions  that  made  it  akin  to  a  miracle.  A  new  city 
in  a  far  country  was  responsible  for  its  conception, 
creation,  and  administration.  Its  magnificence  caused 
the  world  to  wonder  and  almost  worship.  Its  Court  of 
Honor  will  be  remembered  as  worthy  of  a  place  beside 
the  most  beautiful  creations  of  man.  It  won  the  smile 
of  the  world  and  had  the  blessing  and  benediction  of  the 
Divine.  Its  author  did  not  live  to  witness  its  grandeur. 
The  'Columbian  Ode'  said  of  him: 

'Beauty  opened  wide  her  starry  way, 
And  he  passed  on.' 

"The  unanimity  with  which  the  Nations  of  the  Earth 
united  in  the  celebration  is  an  indication  of  the  value 

35 


that  the  Discovery  of  the  New  World  was  to  mankind 
in  its  onward  march." 

Soon  after  the  close  of  the  Exposition  Mr.  Higin- 
botham  returned  to  active  business.  Unfortunately 
that  part  of  his  life  is  less  a  matter  of  public  record, 
and  in  its  history  the  present  writer  is  wholly  unin- 
formed and  incompetent.  She  once  read  an  article  by 
Mr.  Higinbotham,  intended  for  young  would-be  mer- 
chants, which  set  forth  so  clearly  the  qualities  of  mind 
and  temperament  required  for  such  a  career,  and  de- 
scribed many  typical  incidents  so  picturesquely,  as  to 
convince  her  that  its  author  should  use  his  literary 
gift  to  tell  the  whole  dramatic  story  of  the  growth  of 
the  great  business  which  engaged  him  for  nearly  forty 
years — ^from  its  small  local  beginning  with  Field,  Palmer 
&  Leiter  in  1865,  to  the  enormous  world-wide  commerce 
of  Marshall  Field  85  Co.  from  which  he  retired  in  1902. 
Such  a  story  would  be,  in  effect,  a  commercial  history 
of  the  great  formative  period  of  the  nation,  and  its 
value  can  hardly  be  estimated. 

Mr.  Higinbotham's  public  activities  did  not  cease 
with  the  World's  Fair.  After  its  close,  the  Field 
Columbian  Museum  of  Natural  History  was  organized, 
and  he  served  for  seventeen  years  as  its  president. 
For  its  occupancy  the  authorities  reserved,  during  a 
quarter-century,  the  beautiful  Fine  Arts  Building  of 
the  Exposition,  from  which  it  removed,  in  1920,  to  the 
permanent  structure  south  of  Grant  Park.  To  this 
museum  its  president  contributed  not  only  seventeen 
years  of  devoted  service,  but  also  the  collection  of 
precious  stones  made  by  Tiffany  &  Co.  for  the  Exposi- 

36 


tion,  which  was    installed    as    the    Gem    Collection    in 
Higinbotham  Hall. 

Indeed,  during  the  last  twenty-five  years  of  Mr. 
Higinbotham's  life,  most  of  his  leisure  was  devoted 
to  the  people  of  Chicago,  especially  the  poor  and  suffer- 
ing. In  1897  President  McKinley  offered  to  appoint 
him  Ambassador  to  France,  but  excessive  modesty,  and 
love  of  his  own  place,  caused  him  to  decline.  When  the 
city  proposed  to  spend  thirty-five  million  dollars  for  a 
new  drainage  district,  and  the  project  was  in  danger 
of  capture  by  incompetent  politicians,  he  was  active  in 
organizing  a  non-partisan  opposition,  and  accepted 
membership  in  a  nominating  committee  which  presented 
to  the  voters  an  able  and  incorruptible  group  of  six 
candidates.  Then,  as  chairman  of  the  Finance  Com- 
mittee, he  personally  collected  thirty  thousand  dollars 
for  campaign  expenses,  and  conducted  a  whirlwind 
campaign  of  only  thirty  days  which  resulted  in  the 
election  of  the  entire  independent  ticket.  Thus  the 
city  was  assured  not  only  proper  economy,  but  such 
professional  competence  in  the  construction  of  the 
Drainage  Canal  as  should  insure  the  future  health  of  its 
citizens.  This  was  but  one  instance  of  his  many  in- 
conspicuous but  valuable  public  services. 

Besides  countless  private  philanthropies,  certain  chari- 
table institutions  deeply  engaged  his  interest.  For 
many  years  he  was  president  of  Hahnemann  Hospital 
and  of  the  Newsboys'  and  Bootblacks'  Association;  and 
he  organized,  and  was  the  first  president  of  the  Munic- 
ipal  Tuberculosis   Sanitarium,   located   on   a   tract   of 


zi 


one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  in  the  northwestern  part 
of  the  city. 

But  the  Home  for  Incurables  was  his  best  beloved 
philanthropy — if  one  can  call  by  that  name  a  veritable 
child  of  his  spirit  which  engaged  his  love  and  devotion 
for  nearly  forty  years.  When  he  was  first  importuned, 
in  1880,  to  become  a  member  of  the  board  of  such  an 
institution,  which  had  then  gone  no  further  than  to  take 
out  incorp)oration  papers,  he  felt  that  he  could  not 
consent,  in  justice  to  other  charitable  institutions  with 
which  he  was  connected,  not  to  speak  of  the  arduous 
and  exacting  duties  of  his  private  business. 

However,  he  was  persuaded,  and  duly  elected,  made 
chairman  of  a  finance  committee,  and  soon  succeeded 
to  the  presidency,  which  he  held  until  his  death.  Within 
a  few  days  he  had  raised  thirteen  thousand  dollars  and 
rented  a  vacant  house  at  Fullerton  and  Racine  Avenues. 
This  first  Home  ran  along  with  some  difficulty  until 
1887,  when  under  the  will  of  Mrs.  Clarissa  C.  Peck,  an 
eastern  woman,  it  fell  heir  to  over  six  hundred  thousand 
dollars.  Mr.  Higinbotham  became  president  of  the 
nine  trustees  under  this  will,  and  at  once  property  was 
purchased  and  buildings  erected  at  Ellis  Avenue  and 
Fifty-sixth  Street,  the  present  location.  The  property 
has  been  increased  by  numerous  bequests — notably  six 
hundred  thousand  dollars  from  Otto  Young  and  a 
quarter  of  a  million  each  from  Albert  Keep  and  Daniel 
B.  Shipman — until  its  value  is  now  nearly  two  million 
dollars. 

A  little  while  before  Mr.  Higinbotham's  death  he 
said:     "Since  the  Chicago  Home  for  Incurables  was 

38 


opened  in  1890,  it  has  had  but  one  superintendent,  Mr. 
Frank  D.  Mitchell;  one  matron,  Miss  Hattie  I.  Miller; 
one  physician.  Dr.  W.  P.  Goodsmith;  and  one  president. 
And  they  are  all  still  on  duty." 

Miss  Eleanor  Quin,  secretary  to  Mr.  Higinbotham 
for  the  past  ten  years,  is  still  assisting;  without  these 
people,  whose  love  and  devotion  has  been  unfailing,  the 
work  could  not  have  been  carried  on  successfully. 

It  is  difficult  to  follow  without  emotion  the  story  of 
Mr.  Higinbotham's  devotion  to  the  Home.  From  the 
time  of  his  retirement  from  business  in  1902,  it  became, 
after  his  family,  the  chief  interest  of  his  mind  and 
heart,  with  which  nothing  was  allowed  to  interfere. 
When  in  town  he  made  daily  visits,  always  becoming 
personally  acquainted  with — ^indeed,  the  friend  of — 
each  inmate,  and  cheering  them  all  on  with  unfailing 
sympathy  and  humor.  The  coldness  of  many  institu- 
tional "charities"  was  never  allowed  to  enter  here,  and 
the  love  which  rewarded  him  in  life,  and  mourned  his 
death,  was  pathetic  in  its  fervor. 

When  the  death  of  other  early  benefactors  had  made 
him  the  sole  survivor,  he  presented  to  the  Home,  as  a 
memorial  to  those  who  had  been  associated  with  him 
in  its  establishment,  a  bronze  tablet  bearing  the  follow- 
ing inscription: 

A.  D.  1909 

"This  tablet  is  placed  in  loving  memory  of  those  good 
and  faithful  women  and  men  who  gave  unselfishly  of 
themselves,  and  generously  of  their  means,  for  the 
establishment  of  this  Home.  Their  names  are  not 
recorded  here.     Yonder  in  the  Infinite  they  are  written 

39 


on  pages  more  glorious  and  far  more  enduring.  This 
tablet  is  the  gift  and  the  tribute  of  one  who  knew  them 
well  and  loved  them  fondly. 

"May  patience  and  peace  and  plenty  ever  abide 
within  its  walls. 

"May  those  who  suffer  and  those  who  serve,  those 
who  sing  and  those  who  pray,  as  well  as  those  who, 
unable  to  do  more,  stand  by  and  cheer,  be  equally 
blessed. 

"May  this  great  city,  and  all  the  agencies  here  em- 
ployed to  heal  the  sick,  alleviate  suffering  and  advance 
the  interest  of  humanity,  be  prospered  always." 

Among  the  many  incidents  which  portray  the  tender- 
ness of  his  nature  was  one  relating  to  a  poor  woman  in 
the  Cook  County  Hospital,  who,  when  told  that  Mr. 
Higinbotham  had  come  to  see  her,  said:  "Is  this  really 
Mr.  Higinbotham!"  Bursting  into  tears,  she  drew  from 
beneath  her  pillow  his  picture,  cut  from  a  newspaper 
which  she  had  carried  many  years,  as  a  help  to  make  her 
patient  in  suffering,  as  an  inspiration  to  be  gentle  and 
kind.  Many  other  stories  of  his  kindness  to  those  in 
sickness  and  distress  might  be  told;  particularly  details 
of  his  daily  visits  to  the  Home  for  Incurables. 

A  few  other  incidents  may  be  mentioned  to  illustrate 
further  Mr.  Higinbotham's  keen  sjnupathies  and  his 
untiring  activity  in  obeying  their  commands.  The  case 
of  Leo  Frank,  whose  conviction  he  felt  to  be  unjust, 
interested  him  so  deeply  that,  unsolicited,  he  went  to 
Atlanta  to  intercede  with  the  Governor  and  the  Com- 
mission for  his  life.  His  efforts  were  successful,  as  the 
sentence  was  commuted  and  Frank  was  removed  to 

40 


another  city ;  but  the  lynching  of  the  prisoner  soon  after 
prevented  further  action  in  his  favor. 

Many  men  now  prominent  in  affairs  tell  with  what 
kindly  sympathy  and  affection  Mr.  Higinbotham  aided 
them  in  youth.  Among  these,  one  who  early  entered 
the  credit  department  of  Marshall  Field  &  Co.  says: 
"I  never  knew  a  man  so  sympathetic  with  boys;  he 
never  tired  of  helping  young  men  to  get  a  start  in  life, 
and  no  one  could  show  more  tact,  perseverance  and 
energy  in  their  service." 

A  friend  tells  a  story  of  one  of  the  walking-trips  which 
were  Mr.  Higinbotham's  favorite  athletic  diversion;  for 
three  times — ^in  1862,  1886  and  1897 — he  tramped  over 
the  mountains  of  West  Virginia,  a  distance  of  one 
hundred  and  sixty -five  miles,  either  alone  or  in  company; 
this  besides  many  shorter  mountain  tramps.  The 
story  illustrates  not  only  his  love  of  boys,  but  his  de- 
termination to  overcome  all  obstacles. 

"Two  young  employes  at  Field's  planned  to 
take  a  walking-trip,  and  asked  for  the  necessary  vaca- 
tion. Mr.  Higinbotham  was  enthusiastic,  and  said  that 
if  they  wouldn't  mind  his  company  he  would  make  it 
possible  for  them  to  take  quite  a  long  tramp  through 
the  mountains  of  West  Virginia.  They  were  delight- 
ed— no  one  could  have  been  a  more  agreeable  companion. 
This  was  the  second  or  third  tramp  he  had  made 
through  this  region,  whose  wild  scenic  beauty  he  had 
learned  to  love  while  he  was  stationed  at  Clarksburg, 
West  Virginia,  during  the  Civil  War,  when  he  was 
obliged  to  explore  the  region  on  horseback. 

41 


"He  took  the  phrase  'walking-trip'  very  seriously,  and 
would  not  accept  any  invitation  to  ride  an  inch.  At 
one  place,  for  example,  where  we  had  to  cross  an  un- 
fordable  stream,  he  refused  to  ferry  over,  and  ordered 
a  local  carpenter  to  make  a  pair  of  stilts  on  which  he 
stumbled  and  splashed,  and  fell  down  and  got  up,  and 
tumbled  again,  finally  arriving,  drenched  but  tri- 
umphant, on  the  opposite  bank." 

An  incident  of  another  walking-trip  began  at  the 
grave  of  General  Pettigrew,  who  had  been  fatally 
wounded  while  in  command  of  the  rear  guard  of  Lee's 
army  on  its  retreat  from  Gettysburg.  It  was  in  1897, 
in  North  Carolina,  that  Mr.  Higinbotham  found  a 
moss-green  grave-stone,  which  told  how  General  Petti- 
grew had  died  at  the  house  of  a  man  named  Boyd,  near 
Martinsburg,  West  Virginia.  As  it  was  in  Martinsburg 
that  Mr.  Higinbotham,  while  a  young  Union  officer, 
had  been  stationed  during  1864,  and  as  he  had  there 
"received  many  courtesies  from  the  people  of  the  South 
both  during  and  after  the  war,"  he  was  much  interested. 
But  it  was  not  until  1918  that  he  could  learn  anything 
about  the  General's  family.  A  few  letters  then  passed 
between  him  and  Miss  Mary  Johnstone  Pettigrew  of 
Tryon,  North  Carolina,  in  one  of  which  he  says : 

**You  mention  the  mysterious  way  in  which  peoples' 
lives  cross  or  touch,  and  inform  me  that  the  General's 
great-great-grandmother  was  Rachel  Higinbotham.  You 
will,  I  am  sure,  feel  that  truth  is  stranger  than  fiction 
when  I  tell  you  that  my  wife's  name  was  also  Rachel 
Higinbotham." 

42 


And  he  tells  of  a  quite  recent  trip  on  the  James 
River,  during  which  he  had  met,  at  Hampton,  a  cousin 
of  Robert  E.  Lee  who  had  known  the  Boyd  family,  in 
whose  house  General  Pettigrew  died. 

He  always  emphasized  the  necessity  of  human  sym- 
pathy and  service,  and  we  have  plenty  of  testimony 
showing  the  quick  response  of  his  big  heart  to  appeals 
public  and  private.  A  poet  once  wrote  to  him,  after  he 
had  held  out  his  hand  at  a  crisis : 

"Who  cares  for  the  burden,  the  night  and  the  rain, 

And  the  long  steep  lonesome  road, 
When  at  last  through  the  darkness  a  light  shines  plain, 
When  a  voice  calls  hail,  and  a  friend  draws  rein 

With  an  arm  for  the  heavy  load! 

"For  life  is  the  chance  of  a  friend  or  two 

This  side  the  journey's  goal. 
Though  the  world  be  a  desert  the  long  night  through, 
Yet  the  gay  flowers  bloom  and  the  sky  grows  blue 

When  a  soul  salutes  a  soul." 

In  religious  matters  he  was  extremely  liberal,  feeling 
that  "It  is  what  we  do,  yesterday,  today,  and  tomorrow, 
more  than  what  we  believe,  that  will  be  important  in 
the  final  round-up."  In  June,  1893,  he  said,  in  his 
address  of  welcome  at  the  opening  of  the  World's  First 
Parliament  of  Religions : 

"The  meeting  of  so  many  illustrious  and  learned  men 
under  such  circumstances  evidences  the  kindly  spirit 
and  feeling  that  exists  throughout  the  world.  To  me 
this  is  the  proudest  work  of  our  Exposition.  Whatever 
may  be  the  differences  in  the  religions  you  represent, 

43 


there  is  a  sense  in  which  we  are  all  alike.  There  is  a 
common  plane  on  which  we  are  all  brothers.  We  owe 
our  being  to  conditions  that  are  exactly  the  same. 
Our  journey  through  this  world  is  by  the  same  route. 
We  have  in  common  the  same  senses,  hopes,  ambitions, 
joys  and  sorrows;  and  these  to  my  mind  argue  strongly 
and  almost  conclusively  a  common  destiny. 

**To  me  there  is  much  satisfaction  and  pleasure  in  the 
fact  that  we  are  brought  face  to  face  with  men  who 
come  to  us  bearing  the  ripest  wisdom  of  the  ages.  They 
come  in  the  friendliest  spirit,  which,  I  trust,  will  be 
augmented  by  their  intercourse  with  us  and  with  each 
other.  I  am  hoping,  Mr.  Chairman  and  gentlemen, 
that  your  Parliament  will  prove  to  be  a  golden  milestone 
on  the  highway  of  civilization — a  golden  stairway  lead- 
ing up  to  the  tableland  of  a  higher,  grander  and  more 
perfect  condition,  where  peace  will  reign  and  the  enginery 
of  war  be  known  no  more  forever." 

This  hope  of  a  better  era  is  referred  to  again  in  the 
address  to  the  Japanese  commissioners  quoted  above. 
On  that  occasion — in  1909 — ^he  said: 

"I  am  hoping  that  future  expositions  will  leave  out 
the  machinery  of  war.  I  know  that  we  had  a  warship 
and  the  Krupp  gun  at  our  own,  but  I  am  older  now, 
and  I  have  a  higher  appreciation  of  the  implements  of 
peace,  and  an  intense  dislike,  amounting  to  hatred,  of 
war  and  all  its  trappings. 

"Let  us  all  hope  that  this  twentieth  century  will 
witness  the  dawn  of  a  new  era,  that  it  will  go  down  in 
history  as  the  age  of  peace,  the  age  when  a  common 
desire  seemed  to  take  possession  of  humanity  every- 

44 


where  to  share  with  all  others  the  blessings  they  en- 
joyed. Thus  would  be  augmented  the  great  sum  of 
human  happiness. 

"The  nations  of  the  earth  should  unite  in  a  movement 
to  maintain  a  universal  court  whose  duty  it  will  be  to 
determine  and  adjust  all  national  differences.  I  would 
have,  representing  this  court  on  the  high  seas,  one  navy 
and  only  one,  whose  duty  it  would  be  to  police  the  seas, 
prevent  possible  piracy  or  improper  or  illegal  commerce, 
and  assist  the  merchant  marine  in  time  of  disaster  or 
distress.  The  money  thus  saved  would  go  far  towards 
the  care  of  the  sick  and  unfortunate  the  world  over, 
and  would  add  to  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  the  people 
everywhere,  far  beyond  the  power  of  the  human  mind 
to  conceive  or  calculate." 

To  such  feeling  as  this,  developed  and  cherished 
through  a  long  life,  the  world  catastrophe  of  1914  was 
a  cruel  strain ;  and  for  over  two  years  Mr.  Higinbotham 
hoped  that  his  own  country  might  keep  out  of  the 
struggle.  Nevertheless,  both  before  and  after  the 
United  States  declared  war,  he  did  what  he  could  to 
alleviate  distress  in  the  suffering  nations  and  to  en- 
courage heroic  spirit  in  our  own. 

The  Armistice  brought  to  him,  as  to  all  the  world, 
deep  relief  after  the  long  and  bitter  strain.  It  was  good 
that  he  lived  to  see  the  collapse  of  the  anachronistic 
military  autocracy  which  had  caused  the  war,  and  to 
return,  in  spite  of  this  cataclysm,  to  his  firm  belief  that 
the  days  of  war  are  numbered. 

The  fatal  accident  of  April  eighteenth,  1919,  in  New 
York,  closed  his  life  while  he  was  still  scarcely  conscious 

45 


of  old  age,  and  in  full  possession  of  vigor  of  body,  mind, 
and  spirit.  To  the  last  he  was  thinking  of  others — ^he 
was  on  his  way  to  greet  returning  soldiers  of  Illinois 
when  he  was  stricken  down  by  a  government  ambulance. 

One  is  tempted  to  apply  to  him  a  few  sentences  he 
once  wrote  for  a  friend  who  had  died : 

"He  discovered  to  me  a  nature  rich  in  every  higher 
attribute,  and  his  communication  was  so  charming  in 
diction,  and  so  sweetly  simple  in  its  mood,  that  I  was 
deeply  moved  by  his  conversation.  I  was  impressed 
by  his  love  for  humanity,  his  patriotism,  and  the  pride 
he  felt  in  his  profession.  He  was  a  pure  type  of  the 
old-school  gentlemen.  His  was  the  habit  and  mien  of 
the  scholar.  His  character  has  stamped  itself  upon 
many  people,  and  his  example  will  influence  the  genera- 
tions; as  his  perfect  life  has  blessed  the  community  in 
which  he  lived,  and  benefited  those  who  knew  him. 

**It  is  well  with  our  friend.  He  sleeps  the  slumber  of 
peace.  The  night  wrapped  his  body  in  death,  but  his 
soul  saw  the  dawn  of  life." 


46 


APPENDIX 


APPEISIDIX  A. 
LINCOLN  IN  1864 

The  following  article,  suggested  by  the  controversy  over 
Mr.  Barnard's  statue  of  Lincoln,  was  written  for  the  New  York 
Sun,  and  published  in  that  paper  during  the  summer  of  1917: 

1  am  impelled  by  your  full-page  illustrated  article  on  Lincoln, 
and  the  artist's  representation  of  him  to  be  given  to  a  nation 
that  believed  in  and  sympathized  with  him  and  that  desires  to 
honor  him  and  perpetuate  his  memory,  to  give  you  and  the 
public  my  views: 

I  was  born  in  Illinois  in  1838  and  have  always  been  a  resident 
of  that  State.  I  knew  Lincoln,  not  intimately,  but  well.  I  saw, 
and  heard  him  speak  frequently  during  the  years  next  preceding 
the  Civil  War.  I  knew  him  before  he  was  a  candidate  for  the 
presidency,  and  best  during  the  contest  between  him  and 
Douglas  for  the  senatorship.  It  is,  I  think,  well  understood 
that  the  contest  between  these  two  great  men  was  the  stepping- 
stone  to  the  presidency  for  Lincoln,  and  gave  him  to  the  nation 
and  the  world  as  one  of  its  foremost  noble  and  heroic  characters. 
I  knew  him  later  as  president,  and  I  am  the  only  person  living 
who  was  present  on  the  occasion  of  the  first  meeting  between 
Lincoln  and  General  U.  S.  Grant.  This  meeting  took  place  in 
the  White  House  on  the  evening  of  the  eighth  of  March,  1864, 
when  General  Grant  came  to  Washington,  escorted  by  Congress- 

49 


man  E.  B.  Washburn,  to  receive  his  commission  as  Lieutenant- 
General  of  the  Army.  Those  present  on  that  occasion,  all 
from  Illinois,  were  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lincoln,  General  Grant,  Hon. 
E.  B.  Washburne,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  B.  F.  James,  and  myself. 

In  Harper's  Weekly  published  at  that  time  is  a  full-page 
illustration  of  the  presentation  of  the  commission  by  President 
Lincoln,  in  the  presence  of  the  members  of  the  cabinet,  on  the 
day  following  the  first  meeting.  The  presentation  took  place 
at  the  Capitol.  It  may  not  be  generally  known,  but  General 
Grant  was  the  first  to  enjoy  the  full  rank  of  Lieutenant- General 
after  Washington;  General  Winfield  Sott  having  received  it 
by  brevet.  I  was  engaged  in  the  Quartermaster's  Department 
at  this  time  and  was  on  duty  in  Knoxville,  Tenn.,  and  had 
been  sent  to  Washington  to  confer  with  the  Quartermaster 
General,  M.  C.  Meigs.  This  visit  gave  me  opportunity  to  see 
Lincoln  under  conditions  vastly  different  from  those  when  I 
had  seen  him  in  Illinois.  He  was,  however,  the  same  Lincoln 
that  I  had  known.  If  there  was  a  change,  it  was  that  he 
seemed  shrunken  in  stature.  He  was,  however,  both  in  manner 
and  dress,  quite  in  keeping  with  his  exalted  station.  He  was 
at  ease  and  well  poised;  nothing  in  his  manner,  dress  or  speech 
even  suggested  awkwardness.  He  had  indelibly  stamped  on 
his  features  more  than  a  suggestion  of  nobility.  There  were 
clearly  outlined  and  defined  those  characteristics  that  made 
him  famous;  that  made  him  the  Saviour  of  his  Country  and 
the  liberator  of  a  race  from  bondage.  It  seems  to  me,  that  any 
representation  of  Lincoln  should,  at  least,  aim  to  show  him  as 
teeming  with  and,  in  fact,  overflowing  with  those  qualities  and 
characteristics  that  he  was  known  to  possess.  On  the  contrary, 
the  artist  has  gone  far  back  to  his  early  life,  and  has  sought  to 
represent  him  even  worse  than  he  could  have  been  under  the 
most  adverse  circumstances.  The  statue  is  what  the  artist 
seemingly  intended  it  to  be — a  splendid,  a  magnificent  mis- 
representation of  Abraham  Lincoln  as  he  was  in  the  later  years 
of  his  life,  for  it  reverts  to  what  he  conceived  him  to  have  been 
back  in  Kentucky  before  he  had  found  himself.     As  evidence 

50 


of  this,  it  is  stated  that  the  sculptor  went  to  Kentucky  and 
found  a  man  who  was,  and  always  had  been,  a  rail-splitter  and 
nothing  else;  and  he  gives  it  as  Lincoln.  Those  of  us  who 
knew  him  cannot  accept  such  a  substitute. 

H.  N.  HIGINBOTHAM. 


51 


APPENDIX  B 
THE  POWER  OF  PERSONALITY 

At  the  Commencement  exercises  of  Lombard  College,  June 
fifth,  1901,  Mr.  Higinbotham  delivered  a  eulogy  in  memory 
of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Otis  A.  Skinner,  whom  he  called  "my  exemplar/* 
"my  ideal  of  a  grand  and  noble  manhood,"  "the  most  splendid 
and  attractive  man  I  have  ever  beheld." 

As  this  address  expresses  intimately  its  author's  philosophy 
of  life  and  death,  we  append  the  following  extracts: 

We  have  been  told  by  a  world-famous  student  and  philosopher 
that  self-sacrifice  is  the  surest  means  of  securing  happiness  and 
repose,  that  life  is  only  of  value  through  devotion  to  what  is 
true  and  good.  But  in  turning  aside  at  this  hour  from  other 
claims  upon  my  time  and  attention  to  consider  briefly  the 
power  of  personality  in  life,  as  exemplified  in  the  career  of  a 
good  man,  it  is  not  so  much  the  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  as  it  is 
the  feeling  of  inadequacy  that  enters  into  my  task.  It  is  friend- 
ship that  interrogates  me;  it  is  frankness  that  will  respond.  It 
is  a  pleasure  to  lay  a  wreath,  however  simple,  upon  the  grave 
of  one  to  whose  noble  example  and  beneficent  influence  I  am 
largely  indebted  for  any  humane  endeavor  or  philanthropic 
spirit  that  has  found  expression  in  my  life.  .  . 

On  Sunday  afternoons  it  was  his  custom  to  go  into  the  country 
to  preach,  and  on  many  of  these  occasions  it  was  my  privilege 

53 


to  accompany  him.  He  talked  and  thought  a  great  deal  about 
the  happiness  of  others.  He  always  seemed  to  be  looking  for 
a  soul  that  he  could  cheer  by  loving  and  thoughtful  words.  He 
knew  that  no  man  could  live  unto  God  except  by  living  at  the 
same  time  unto  his  fellows.  .  .  So  this  man's  good  works 
follow  him  and  will  be  reflected  and  multiplied  in  the  lives  of 
others  to  the  end  of  time.  .  . 

It  is  wonderful  how  indestructibly  the  good  grows  and  propa- 
gates itself,  even  among  weedy  entanglements.  Evil  things 
perish,  but  the  good  goes  on  forever.  Music  heard  from 
afar  is  all  harmony;  the  discordant  notes  perish  by  the  way  and 
never  reach  the  ear  of  the  listener.     .     . 

If  men  are  changed  by  events  and  environment,  they  are 
changed  much  more,  either  for  good  or  ill,  by  their  fellow-men. 
This  is  the  alchemy  of  influence.  We,  all  of  us,  are  apt  to 
minimize  our  power  or  influence,  arguing  to  ourselves  that 
what  we  may  say  or  do  is  not  noticed  or  observed,  and  is  there- 
fore of  little  moment  or  consequence.  There  was  never  a  greater 
error. 

For  every  good  deed  of  ours  the  world  will  be  better  always. 
And  perhaps  on  no  day  does  a  man  walk  the  street  cheerfully 
without  meeting  some  other  person  who  is  brightened  by  his 
face,  and  who  unconsciously  to  himself  catches  from  that  look 
an  ineffable  something — an  inspiration  that  gives  him  new 
courage  and  saves  him  from  a  wrong  action.  Usefulness,  after 
all,  is  nobler  than  fame — so  noble,  indeed,  that  man  should  not 
demand  a  higher  reward  for  his  labors  under  the  sun  than  the 
consciousness  of  having  done  his  neighbor  some  form  of  service. 

Every  person  who  has  lived  in  the  past,  who  lives  in  the 
present  or  may  hereafter  come  into  being,  either  has  exerted  or 
will  exert  some  influence  for  the  good  or  ill  of  his  fellows.  Even  In 
inanimate  nature  this  seems  to  be  the  law  of  existence.  The 
glacier,  that  had  its  beginning  when  the  earth  was  new,  carries 
in  its  icy  grasp  objects  which  today  tell  the  story  of  its  course 
as  plainly  as  if  by  written  or  spoken  word.     The  tree  standing 

54 


by  the  wayside,  barren  of  either  flower  or  fruit  and  seemingly 
useless,  may  have  a  beneficent  office.  Some  tired  and  lonely 
traveler,  discouraged  and  disheartened,  resting  beneath  its 
shade,  may  be  lured  back  to  a  life  of  usefulness  and  happiness 
by  the  song  of  a  bird  in  its  branches.  And  so  it  is  too  in  the 
animal  kingdom.  The  beasts  of  the  field  and  the  fowls  of  the 
air  in  divers  ways  make  their  impress  upon  nature  and  upon  all 
life. 

"When  our  souls  shall  leave  this  dwelling, 
The  glory  of  one  fair  and  virtuous  action 
Is  above  all  the  'scutcheons  of  our  tomb." 


55 


APPENDIX  C 

THE  MAN  WHO  DID  ME  A  GOOD  TURN 

Written  by  Dr.  Frank  Crane 

Is  there  any  feeling  quite  like  that  with  which  you  pick  up 
the  Morning  Paper? 

You  yourself,  child  of  mystery,  have  just  come  from  a  brief 
visit  with  Death,  in  the  house  of  Sleep,  and  are  upon  the  stoop 
of  another  Day,  and  when  you  look  at  the  Paper,  it  is  as  if 
your  hand  lay  upon  the  latch  that  opens  the  Door  of  another 
Room  in  that  great  House  of  Adventure — Life. 

What  will  you  see?  Kings  fallen?  New  wonders  of  strange 
lands?  Another  crime?  What  new  shifting  in  the  kaleidoscope 
of  Fate? 

The  other  day  I  read  that  Harlow  N.  Higinbotham,  some- 
time President  of  the  World's  Columbian  Exposition,  man  of 
affairs,  wealth,  business,  and  philanthropy,  had  died.  At 
eighty-two  years  of  age,  still  active  and  vigorous,  he  had  fallen 
beneath  an  automobile  in  the  street. 

This  is  not  the  story  of  his  life.  Others  will  write  his  biog- 
raphy.    They  will  tell  of  his  plans,  achievements,  honors. 

But  certain  men,  to  you,  are  types.  They  are  symbols. 
Whatever  may  be  their  order  in  the  usual  chronicle  of  the  world, 
to  you  they  stand  for  a  point  of  sentiment,  a  mark  of  an  idea. 

57 


Harlow  N.  Higinbotham  will  always  be  to  me  the  concrete 
representative  and  ikon  of 

"The  Man  Who  Did  Me  a  Good  Turn." 

It  matters  not  what  it  was  all  about,  but  once  he,  wealthy 
and  busy,  stopped  his  work,  left  his  office  and  walked  with 
me,  little  and  unknown,  down  the  street,  to  do  me  a  favor,  for 
no  reason  except  that  he  took  a  fancy  to  me. 

That  was  more  than  twenty  years  ago.  So  he  is  gone  now! 
I  wish  I  might  drop  a  tear  upon  his  folded  hands;  perhaps  the 
Recording  Angel,  checking  up  his  account,  might  see  it,  and 
think  it  was  a  pearl,  and  put  it  to  his  credit.  So  only  can  I 
pay  my  debt. 

Reading  of  his  death  has  set  me  thinking.  How  many 
persons  there  are  who  have  done  me  a  Good  Turn!  Just  casual 
people,  I  mean.  All  kinds.  Let  me  recall.  Alas,  that  my 
memory  for  kindness  is  so  poor! 

I  cannot  understand  those  who  say  they  owe  no  man  any- 
thing. My  days  are  crowded  with  undeserved  Good  Turns. 
I  shall  never  pay  my  debts,  if  I  live  a  thousand  years. 

There's  the  man  who  gave  me  a  match,  the  girl  who  gave 
me  a  smile,  the  farmer  who  gave  me  a  ride,  a  cobbler  in  Munich 
once  mended  my  shoe  and  would  take  no  money,  a  man  made 
way  for  me  in  a  crowd  to  see  the  parade,  a  baby  once  smiled 
at  me  and  held  out  her  arms — I  would  not  forget  these  small 
things,  little  sparkles  in  the  life-stream. 

And  men  have  given  me  a  chance,  and  some  have  stopped 
to  praise  me,  and  I  have  seen  the  little  flame  in  women's  eyes 
as  they  looked  on  me,  and  years  ago  George  Armstrong  and 
Jo  Holmes  lent  me  money  when  I  am  sure  they  did  not  know 
they  would  ever  get  it  back. 

There  are  others,  appearing  out  of  the  stranger  throng,  that 
have  stood  by  me,  defended  my  name,  spoken  out  boldly  and 
called  themselves  my  friends. 

Of  all  these  Harlow  N.  Higinbotham  is  the  type,  because  my 
acquaintance  with  him  was  but  casual,   because  he  had  no 

58 


reason  for  his  kindness  except  the  human  spark,  because  he 
emerged  from  the  multitude,  did  me  his  Good  Turn,  and  receded 
again  into  the  mist. 

Always  his  strong  face,  shrewd  and  understanding,  will  stand 
out  from  among  the  sea  of  human  faces  in  my  memory,  and 
rebuke  my  dark  moods,  saying  unto  me  that  this  world  of  men 
and  women  is  a  good  place,  full  of  unexpected  impulse,  not  a 
vale  of  tears,  but  a  place  of  Heart  and  Humanity. 

So,  Recording  Angel,  when  the  case  of  this  man  comes  up  on 
the  Day  of  Judgment,  let  me  bear  my  testimony. 

HARLOW  N.  HIGINBOTHAM 

One  of  the  workers  of  the  world 

Living  toiled,  and  toiling  died; 
But  others  worked  and  the  world  went  on. 
And  was  not  changed  when  he  was  gone. 
A  strong  man  stricken,  a  wide  sail  furled ; 

And  only  a  few  men  sighed. 

Well,  I  am  one  of  them. 


59 


IT 


■•tvujaiv ,  -fte  (u>'itU»%t>  vm/*  '^/Tk/  &^*iii 

**o  A(*M  l^j>ui.i^  c^  'Mm'  ♦i*^  /h^  -&««/  y^  .' 

(9kU/'>>14Mc/<IM'M/  a/44c<>  /»VU  ^M4<%4^i/   <>UL&V</    Immj^ , 

&'**'  ^J3*w»  iW/'-4t  />va/t/  t\viti/    vajAjtAuJk/i  tn/tf. 


1 


J 


Facsimile  of  ms.  page 
Written  by  Eugene  Field. 


APPENDIX  D 

In  a  copy  of  "Echoes  from  the  Sabine  Farm,"  given  to  Mr. 
Higinbotham  by  Eugene  Field  we  find  inscribed,  on  the  fly 
leaf,  the  following : 

Dear  Mr.  Higinbotham:  I  am  sending  you  this  book  for 
several  reasons.  In  the  first  place,  I  should  like  to  have  it 
serve  as  a  token  of  that  sense  of  pleasure  which,  in  common 
with  the  rest  of  our  townsmen,  I  feel  to  have  you  back  in  Chicago 
after  months  of  absence  in  foreign  lands.  Then,  again,  I  am 
glad  to  give  you  the  book  because  I  know  that  you  will  regard 
it  with  the  appreciative  and  jealous  tenderness  which  every 
author  loves  to  see  others  bestow  upon  the  creations  of  his 
brain  and  pen.  But  above  all  I  am  hoping,  dear  sir,  that  you 
will  look  upon  this  gift  as  a  cordial  expression  (however  modest) 
of  my  feeling  of  indebtedness  to  you  for  the  goodness  you  have 
shown  to  me  and  to  my  friends  for  my  sake. 

(Signed)  EUGENE  FIELD. 
Chicago,  February,  1892. 

And  in  Mr.  Field's  hand  writing  this  little  poem  referring 
to  Mr.  Higinbotham' s  return  from  a  three  year's  absence  in 
Europe. 

Pompey,  'tis  Fortune  gives  you  back 
To  the  friends  and  the  gods  who  love  you! 


61 


Once  more  you  stand  in  your  native  land, 
With  the  stars  and  stripes  above  you! 

Come,  just  for  once,  let's  celebrate 
In  the  good  old  way  and  classic — 

Our  skins  we'll  nard  with  Fairbank's  lard. 
And  soak  our  souls  in  Massic ! 

And  when  the  bill  for  the  same  comes  in, 
I  pray  you'll  be  so  partial 

As  to  charge  my  share  in  the  costly  affair 
To  my  prosperous  cousin  Marshall! 


62 


RALPH  FLETCHER  SEYMOUR 
DESI»  NER  —  PRINTER 
FINE  ARTS  BLDG.,  CHICAGO 


CT 

mo 


